[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4988 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4988

 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals 
 who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of 
Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and the impacted Saskinax people 
 on Attu, whose lives, culture, and community were irrevocably changed 
               from December 8, 1941, to August 15, 1945.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2024

 Mr. Heinrich (for himself, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Hoeven, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. 
   Lujan, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Smith, Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. Whitehouse) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
            Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals 
 who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of 
Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and the impacted Saskinax people 
 on Attu, whose lives, culture, and community were irrevocably changed 
               from December 8, 1941, to August 15, 1945.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Defenders of Bataan, Corregidor, and 
Attu Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 
        Territory, on December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese forces 
        launched coordinated attacks throughout Asia, striking Malaya, 
        Thailand, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and 
        the United States territories of Guam, Midway Island, Wake 
        Island, and Howland Island.
            (2) For the next 7 months, undermanned United States forces 
        in the Pacific fought with outdated weapons, expired 
        ammunition, and without reinforcement or resupply to their 
        besieged island posts.
            (3) On the first day of United States participation in 
        World War II, December 8, 1941, the ``first to fire'' in the 
        Philippines at the Imperial Japanese were the New Mexico 
        National Guardsmen from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery 
        (AA) regiments, the successors to the famed ``Rough Riders'' of 
        the Spanish-American War, who had only recently arrived in the 
        Philippines where they were stationed at Fort Stotsenburg north 
        of Manila with the mission of defending Clark Field.
            (4) Filipino soldiers and civilians valiantly fought 
        alongside and as part of the United States Armed Forces and 
        were integral to their war efforts.
            (5) By the end of December 1941, all United States forces 
        on Luzon Island in the Philippines withdrew to the Bataan 
        Peninsula of the island, where, for the next 4 months, with 
        neither air nor sea defenses, an estimated 12,000 United States 
        and at least 63,000 Filipino troops and 20,000 Filipino 
        civilians endured siege conditions.
            (6) On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King, Jr. 
        surrendered the United States and Filipino forces on the Bataan 
        Peninsula. The Imperial Japanese Army forced thousands of 
        troops and civilians to assemble at the port of Mariveles at 
        the tip of Bataan and other locations along the peninsula for a 
        65-mile forced march. This forced trek came to be known as the 
        ``Bataan Death March''.
            (7) During the Bataan Death March, approximately 700 people 
        of the United States and 6,000 to 10,000 Filipinos were killed. 
        Survivors were sent to Camp O'Donnell where 26,000 more 
        Filipino prisoners died.
            (8) On May 6, 1942, Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright 
        surrendered the fortress islands of Corregidor (Fort Mills), 
        Fort Drum, Fort Frank, and Fort Hughes in Manila Bay. The 
        complete surrender of the remaining United States and Filipino 
        forces in the Philippines occurred on June 9, 1942.
            (9) Included in the surrenders in the Philippines were 
        female nurses of the United States Army and Navy and the 
        Philippine Army and civilian volunteers who became the first 
        large group of United States women in combat and, counted with 
        the Army and Navy nurses surrendered on Guam in December 1941, 
        comprised the first group of United States military women taken 
        captive and imprisoned by an enemy.
            (10) On June 7, 1942, the Imperial Japanese invaded Attu, 
        homeland of the impacted Saskinax people, who were all 
        subsequently taken prisoner by the Japanese troops on Attu for 
        3 months and held as imprisoned slaves for 3 years and 3 months 
        in Otaru, Japan. After the war, the impacted Saskinax people 
        were not allowed to return to Attu.
            (11) On May 11, 1943, 12,500 United States Armed Forces 
        personnel entered Attu, which was occupied by about 2,500 
        Japanese military personnel. Between this date and May 29, 
        1943, those brave members of the United States Armed Forces 
        fought to reclaim Attu. This victory cost the United States 
        about 550 of its very finest, who laid down their lives in the 
        service of their nation.
            (12) Between January 1942 and August 1945, thousands of 
        prisoners of war from the United States who had survived the 
        surrenders throughout the Pacific were shipped in unmarked 
        freighters and vessels.
            (13) It is time to recognize the defenders of Bataan, 
        Corregidor, Attu and other places throughout the Pacific who 
        were ordinary men and women who found uncommon courage in 
        extraordinary circumstances.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Impacted saskinax people.--The term ``impacted Saskinax 
        people'' refers to the indigenous peoples of the Near Islands, 
        which includes Attu and the westernmost Alaskan islands, who 
        were on the islands during the period beginning on December 8, 
        1941, and ending on August 15, 1945.
            (2) Individuals who fought for or with the united states.--
        The term ``individuals who fought for or with the United 
        States''--
                    (A) includes any individual who--
                            (i) was in the Pacific theater at any time 
                        during the period beginning on December 8, 
                        1941, and ending on August 15, 1945; and
                            (ii)(I) served honorably as a member of the 
                        United States Armed Forces or at the command of 
                        the United States Armed Forces in the defensive 
                        battles in the Pacific from December 8, 1941 to 
                        June 9, 1942; or
                            (II) became a prisoner of war of Imperial 
                        Japan during World War II until August 15, 
                        1945, including civilians who the Imperial 
                        Japanese Armed Forces considered military 
                        prisoners of war and received veterans status 
                        after the war; and
                    (B) does not include a member of the Pacific Fleet 
                or the Hawaiian Department.
            (3) Pacific theater.--The term ``Pacific theater'' means 
        Shanghai, the Central Pacific Area, the Southwest Pacific Area, 
        and the Aleutian Islands.
            (4) Resistance or battle.--The term ``resistance or 
        battle'' includes an action in and around Shanghai, Tientsin, 
        Guam, Wake Island, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, the 
        Philippines, Midway Island, or the Aleutian Islands.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Treasury.

SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives 
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate 
arrangements for the collective award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 
medal of appropriate design to the individuals who fought for or with 
the United States to defend Bataan, Corregidor, Attu, and other places 
in the Pacific theater, and to the impacted Saskinax people, in 
recognition of their personal sacrifice and service during World War 
II.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall strike the gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
    (c) Smithsonian Institution.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
        National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian 
        Institution, where it shall be displayed as appropriate and 
        made available for research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian 
        Institution should make the gold medal received under paragraph 
        (1) available for display at other locations, particularly at 
        locations that are associated with--
                    (A) the defensive battles of World War II in the 
                Pacific theater from December 8, 1941, to August 15, 
                1945;
                    (B) the prisoners of war of Imperial Japan;
                    (C) the impacted Saskinax people; and
                    (D) the defense of the Philippines, Guam, Wake 
                Island, Midway Island, Java, and the Aleutian Islands.

SEC. 5. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck under section 4, at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 6. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--Medals struck under this Act are national 
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 7. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 5 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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